How Can Micaiah Be Made A Better Unit?

[Jotari]

So I made a threat not long ago about how Roy could be improved as a unit while still staying the same fundamental character. I think one of the other lords considered most trashy is Micaiah due her poor speed and bulk. So what ideas do you have/like for improving her? I think the idea I like the best would be to give her innate renewal and a HP boost, as this would help her bulk issues while still making her flimsy, and would also make Sacrifice look like a more attractive skill.

Edited August 4, 2018 by Jotari

[Magical Glace]

Speed.  Micaiah's weird because her stats just don't know what she wants to be.  Giant magic... offense.  Low speed... not so great for offense.  High res... countered by trash hp, and the fact none of the dark mages fought in FE10 are in maps where she's available.  She's very all over the place, and the low speed harms her in the most areas, I think.

She can also maybe get dark tomes?   would solve the WT issue.

And way more DB chapters in Part 3 + third tier at the same time as Ike. The entire DB suffers from the lack of Part III maps and it's the big reason the mercs have such an advantage gameplaywise, they have more "tier 2 time."  Five maps of 3rd tier is Roy tier bad promotion time.  

Buff tomes as a whole, FE10 magic has terribly low might and FE10 enemies don't have terribad res like most games.  The final boss should also take a Res nerf, there's no good reason for her to have 15 more Res than Def >~>

Edited August 4, 2018 by Glaceon Mage

[Jotari]

1 minute ago, Glaceon Mage said:

Speed.  Micaiah's weird because her stats just don't know what she wants to be.  Giant magic... offense.  Low speed... not so great for offense.  High res... countered by trash hp, and the fact none of the dark mages fought in FE10 are in maps where she's available.  She's very all over the place, and the low speed harms her in the most areas, I think.

She can also maybe get dark tomes?   would solve the WT issue.

And way more DB chapters in Part 3 + third tier at the same time as Ike. The entire DB suffers for the former and it's the big reason the mercs have such an advantage gameplaywise, they have more "tier 2 time."  Five maps of 3rd tier is Roy tier bad promotion time.  

Buff tomes as a whole, FE10 magic has terribly low might and FE10 enemies don't have terribad res like most games.  The final boss should also take a Res nerf, there's no good reason for her to have 20 more Res than Def >~>

Good ideas (even if I don't really agree with them all, I think having terirble defense and speed is part of her jam and she should get fixes elsewhere), I'll add them to the poll.

[Strullemia]

The things that come to mind right away are her HP and Spd growth, especially spd. My Micaiah couldn't kill a lot of stuff because she either couldn't double or she didn't have enough health to survive a single hit from an enemy. 

[Agro]

The problem with Micaiah is that the game makes it feel like such a punishment to use Micaiah.

She could do with some Leadership stars, for a start. At least then it would feel like she's contributing to something.

Instant staff access would be nice, rather than waiting until promotion. And giving her some good ones, like Rescue or Sleep = A+ unit already

6 movement rather than 5 (or is that normal in this game? I can't remember)

From a story perspective it doesn't make sense for her to have huge levels of defense or HP, but they could perhaps have given her an auto-Miracle or something so she can survive another hit.

Or just give her a Refresh move. I mean, Azura in FE14 is frail as shit, but she's still considered a top tier unit because of her ability to refresh. So rewrite Micaiah's Sacrifice ability as a Refresh still adn you're good. It fits in well with the story, too, since she is of heron descent, after all.

[Interdimensional Observer]

Micaiah's 35 Spd growth is the same as Ike's (and Soren's- but he isn't very good), which is to say slow. Among Beorc, I count only Brom and Haar as slower. The difference is that Ike has an enormous base that with Vanguard bonuses, keep him from ever being doubled at the very least. Micaiah has no such base to go on, she needs much better growth indeed.

 

Since she is stuck promoting at the Tower, I'd say give her Lachesis!Master Knight-sized promotion bonuses. She has hardly any time to level as a Light Priestess, so her growths won't matter much here.

And I'd all be for, as I have been saying before, giving her Lehran's Medallion filled with Yune's chaotic power as her ultimate weapon. Effective vs. Ashera/units with Mantle perhaps? It'd be a Dark tome, but giving Micaiah Dark access I have zero issues with, and it'd better parallel her with her granddad, who has SS Light, Dark, and Staffs, and from whom she derives everything that makes her special.

[NinjaMonkey]

- 45% Res, +25% Spd, +10% HP, +10% Def.

13 minutes ago, Agro said:

Instant staff access would be nice, rather than waiting until promotion. And giving her some good ones, like Rescue or Sleep = A+ unit already

Which now makes Laura redundant.

[Kubson]

Fix her growths:

HP: 40 -> 60

STR: 15 (unchanged)

MGC: 80 (unchanged)

SKL: 40 (unchanged)

SPD: 35 -> 50

LCK: 80 (unchanged)

DEF: 20 -> 35

RES: 90 (unchanged)

 

[Etrurian emperor]

Make her able to dodge. Michy being frail fits the character and the class but being frail gets incredibly annoying when the unit in question has such difficulty dodging. 

[Sasori]

Micaiah already has a lot going for her. Thani bombing in part 1 works great and she'll be able to use physic staffs right after promoting in part 3.

But like everyone said her speed is a bit of a problem. Micaiah just feels very unsafe with almost every unit doubling her and a fair amount of units one shotting her as well. Speed high enough to avoid doubles, but not high enough to double much herself might be the best way to make her better, but without changing her completely

[Jotari]

1 hour ago, NinjaMonkey said:

- 45% Res, +25% Spd, +10% HP, +10% Def.

Which now makes Laura redundant.

It also makes the plot relevant Sacrifice ability redundant too, aside from using it to grind exp (which I'm guessing is what it's solely used for anyway by the majority of players).

1 hour ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

And I'd all be for, as I have been saying before, giving her Lehran's Medallion filled with Yune's chaotic power as her ultimate weapon. Effective vs. Ashera/units with Mantle perhaps? It'd be a Dark tome, but giving Micaiah Dark access I have zero issues with, and it'd better parallel her with her granddad, who has SS Light, Dark, and Staffs, and from whom she derives everything that makes her special.

That'd be pretty cool. And unlike most final bosses that get completely shredded by effective damage, Ashera could still put up something of a fight thanks to her colossal RES.

Edited August 4, 2018 by Jotari

[Magical Glace]

3 minutes ago, Jotari said:

It also makes the plot relevant Sacrifice ability redundant too, aside from using it to grind exp (which I'm guessing is what it's solely used for anyway by the majority of players).

Not entirely, Sacrifice's most useful trait is a free Restore.  That she can use while silenced as well.  It's pretty useful late in the game when all the magic bosses start spamming statuses at you.

It does make it's most plot advertised trait pointless though... maybe just have her not own any staves prior to meeting Laura, but previously taught how to use them?  That way, she'd still have to rely on sacrifice while running around Nevassa, and become known for it, but once she has access to a staff supply she uses them instead.  Or... something.

[Jotari]

1 minute ago, Glaceon Mage said:

Not entirely, Sacrifice's most useful trait is a free Restore.  That she can use while silenced as well.  It's pretty useful late in the game when all the magic bosses start spamming statuses at you.

It does make it's most plot advertised trait pointless though... maybe just have her not own any staves prior to meeting Laura, but previously taught how to use them?  That way, she'd still have to rely on sacrifice while running around Nevassa, and become known for it, but once she has access to a staff supply she uses them instead.  Or... something.

I believe Micaiah can't get silenced at all...not that that matters either way.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Only leadership stars and nothing more

Since Ike and Elincia have them, why doesn't Micaiah have them?

She's a leader of an army as the other two mentioned are, maybe with less ecperienced.

At least she should start with one star and gain one more after each promotion => three in total

Since the DB has access to paragon she can get enough experience before the endgame.

Oh... and give her the final blow to Ashera.

 

 

Edit: Micaiah can get silenced.

Edited August 4, 2018 by Jules

[Modamy]

I'm of the opinion that Micaiah just isn't a combat focused unit. With her staff access after promotion and huge magic stat she's a support unit with staves and the ability to chip. Changing her stat spread to me just feels like fundamentally changing her as a unit. So I would just go with giving her another personal weapon, maybe a siege tome, an innate renewal to compliment sacrifice, and more leadership stars.

[omegaxis1]

"Give her Future Vision from Heroes" XD

Ah, supposed to be the Fire Emblem's Shulk, but Lucina ended up becoming Shulkcina because of Heroes. 

[Slumber]

Micaiah's situation is a bit easier to assess than Roy's, and a few simple things would go a looooooong way.

Boost her speed and HP growths by 20+%, raise her Speed cap by 2, and her base HP by 3.

Edited August 4, 2018 by Slumber

[omegaxis1]

25 minutes ago, Slumber said:

Micaiah's situation is a bit easier to assess than Roy's, and one simple thing would go a looooooong way.

Boost her speed and HP growths by 20+%, raise her Speed cap by 2, and her base HP by 3.

Is that too much to ask for?!

[Slumber]

4 minutes ago, omegaxis1 said:

Is that too much to ask for?!

I mean, compared to how busted Ike's Mercs are, not really. Not in the long run, at least.

[ping]

3 hours ago, Jules said:

Only leadership stars and nothing more

Since Ike and Elincia have them, why doesn't Micaiah have them?

She's a leader of an army as the other two mentioned are, maybe with less ecperienced.

At least she should start with one star and gain one more after each promotion => three in total

Since the DB has access to paragon she can get enough experience before the endgame.

Oh... and give her the final blow to Ashera.

I'll sign this, pretty much. Miccy not having any leadership stars is particularly jarring because Ike and Soren (? - not sure if it was those two, but I believe it was before or after the bridge chapter) comment on how fierce Daein's soldiers are fighting because of her.

I don't think Micaiah is all that bad as a unit (not great either, but decent enough), so I don't think her own stats need to be improved. Her squishyness just adds to the challenge, and unlike, say, Roy or SD!Marth, she is seldom useless despite her drawbacks.

And I also always hated the Ike Clause for the Ashera fight. ;) (and even more so for the Ashnard fight, but that's neither here nor there)

[Interdimensional Observer]

1 hour ago, ping said:

(and even more so for the Ashnard fight, but that's neither here nor there)

I get the sense it's done because Ashnard can move and is a flier. Now the Full Guard exists to keep Ashy from being afraid of Rolf, but I guess they didn't think that was cool enough. Even with a Full Guard, the ability to bait him and then blast away in one turn would still exist. By restricting the number of units able to damage him to 2 or 3, ORKOing him is much harder ...except for Wrasolve Ike. Keeping Ashnard mobile, but immune to such a scenario, while not being a tedious mess to manage, sounds rather tricky on paper.

 

5 hours ago, Jotari said:

I believe Micaiah can't get silenced at all...not that that matters either way.

I think she can, why would she be immune? Any supposed "immunity" would be derived from her massive Res. Sacrifice however bypasses Silence IRRC.

 

Micaiah's Res by the way only starts at 4, which is low despite the massive growth. It makes it harder to BEXP her Speed up owing to how long it takes to cap Res. And her massive Lck growth is even worse, since it has a universal cap of 40 and on average it takes until 20/20 to cap it.

 

On the final blow front, eh just move it to cinematics and change it from purely Ike to an Ike-Micaiah tag-team. The gameplay final blow should be able to be dealt by anyone you want.

[SavageVolug]

I DEFINATLY like the idea of boosting her HP as this would make her personal skill Sacrifice a lot more impactful and useful. I would add that I think she should be given a better speed stat and growth but beyond that I think for the most part she's fine. If HP or Speed or both were improved it would significantly improve Micaiha's usefullness as a unit.

[eclipse]

Honestly?  You'd have to change the fundamental nature of FE10 to make her truly stellar.

Take a look at what the really good units have in common - good offense, as well as good defenses (whether it be damage absorption or dodge).  That's because FE10 is more of an enemy-phase game, while Micaiah's stats are perfect for a player-phase game.  So she can either take a bunch of defensive stats and attempt to be an enemy-phase unit, or she can do as much as she can on player phase.  I much prefer the latter, so. . .

- Leadership stars
- Innate Paragon, so she doesn't have to rely on combat to level up
- Better EXP gain on Sacrifice, because it's VERY unique utility

Actually, better EXP gain for staves in general would be nice.

[AnonymousSpeed]

"Replace her with a second Ike" is clearly the best answer because then Ike can fight Ike and Ike can talk smack about Ike and Ike can say Ike is the mother of Sothe's children.

However, that and some of the other suggestions feel like they'd require a bit too much reworking or redesigning of the game. Honestly, I slight speed growth boost would be enough to really help (and I mean like maybe a 10% boost). I would also recommend making the Light Mage and maybe even Light Sage luck caps lower, which sounds weird but hear me out.

A lot of units in Radiant Dawn focus on a select few stats very heavily, so you can quickly cap them and then use BEXP to account for their weaknesses. This is great, in my opinion, but characters who have high luck suffer a lot from this design mentality because luck caps are so high. So boost her luck base, reduce her luck cap, and she somehow ends up being better. At least, I think it would be that way.

Honestly, Micaiah isn't that bad despite her Roy promotion time and I wouldn't mind her being forced into the tower if so many units weren't already. Thani's very powerful and staffbot utility is cool and I never used sacrifice so I can't speak to that.

[Florete]

She could be a great asset exactly as she is if her team had fewer good units. There are already quite a number of cavalry and armored units she can bomb out of existence, but when you get Sothe, Tauroneo, Tormod, Muarim, Nailah, and the Black Knight, such an ability just isn't as valuable. Those units aren't all around in part 3, but she can no longer OHKO most enemies by then because only 3-12 has any enemies she gets effective damage against.

Keeping the team the same, though:

• Prf weapon: I don't think this is necessary. Thani is already pretty good. An Endgame Prf would be nice, though.
• Default Renewal + better HP: This would be very nice. Increased HP won't help her much against physical enemies, but she could realistically Res tank and Sacrifice would become more valuable. Give more exp for Sacrifice, too.
• More dark magic enemies: Yes.
• Dark magic on promotion: As long as it doesn't replace staves. I don't think this would actually help her much, it would be more for flavor and to get more people actually interested in using her.
• Boost Spd growth: It would certainly make her better, but I feel like being speedy would change her too much.
• More part 3 chapters, earlier promotion: Easy yes.
• Leadership stars: Why doesn't she get any as it is?